DOGBANE FAMILY. 275 



2. NEKIITM, OLEANDER. (The ancient Greek and Latin name.) 

 Leaves conaceous, ngid, closely and transversely veiny. Flowers showy in 

 tennmal cymes, m summer, deep rose-color, or with white varieties, either 

 single or double. 



M". Ole^der, the Oleander of common housft<;ulture, from the Levant : 

 leaves lanceolate; appendage surmounting the anthers scarcely protrudinc- 

 flowers large, scentless. 



N. od6rum, Sweet O. : less cult., from India, more tender ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate ; appendage of the anthers protruding ; flowers fragrant. 



3. ECHITES. (Name from Greek word for a viper.) Plants from the 

 warm parts of America, one not rare as a conservatory climber, viz. 



E. suavfeolens, or MASDEvfLLEA suaveolens, Chili Jessamine, a 

 slender woody-stemmed taU twiner, with thin oblong or ovate heart-shaped 

 pointed leaves, and slender peduncles bearing a few racemed very fragrant flow- 

 ers, the white corolla with ample 5-lobed border, 2' broad. 



4. POESTERONIA. (Named for an English botanist, T. F. i^orsfer.) 



F. difibrmis, in low grounds from Virginia S. & W., is a barely woody 

 twiner, the flowering branches herbaceous and downy; leaves thin, oval-lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, or sometimes linear, narrowed into a petiole; flowers i' long, 

 in cymes, greenish-yellow, all summer. 



5. VINCA, PERIWINKLE. (Latin name, from a word meaning to bind, 

 from the thread-like stems.) % 



§ 1. True Periwinkles, cult, from Europe, hardy or nearly so, smooth, traU- 

 ing over the ground or creeping, only the short jUnixring sterna ascending, 

 with blue {or by variation white) flowers solitary in the axils, in spring or 

 early summer. 



V. minor. Common Peeiwinkle, in all country-gardens, spreading freely 

 by the creeping sterile stems, evergreen, with ovate or oblong-ovate shining 

 leaves barely 1^' long, and almost truncate wedge-shaped lobes to the corolla : 

 fl. early spring. 



V. m^jor. Large P., not quite hardy N., a variety with variegated leaves 

 is most cultivated, larger than the first species and leaves rounder, the lobes of 

 corolla obovate. 



V. Iierbd.cea: not evergreen; stems reclining and rooting ; leaves lance- 

 oblong, lobes of the more purple-blue corolla oblong-obovate : fl. late spring. 



§ 2. Tropical erect, somewhat woody at base: flowers produced all the season. 



V. rdsea, house and bedding plant from West Indies, with oblong-petioled 

 veiny leaves, and showy corolla with slender tube and very narrow orfflce, rose- 

 purple, or white, with or without a pink eye. 



6. APOCYNUM, DOGBANE (to which the name in Greek refers), . 

 INDIAN HEMP, from the use made of the bark. PI. summer, y. ' 

 A. androssemifdlium. Spreading D. Along thickets, mostly N. 



branches forking and widely spreading ; leaves ovate, petioled ; corolla open 

 bell-shaped with spreading lobes. 



A. cann^binum. Common Indian Hemp. Gravelly or wet banks cf 

 streams : branches more erect ; leaves oblong, lance-oblong, ovate, or slightly 

 heart-shaped ; flowers more crowded and erect ; lobes of the corolla little 

 spreading. 



7. AMSONIA. (Named for a Mr. Charles Amson.) Low grounds chiefly 

 S. ; very leafy, 2° -3° high, smooth or somewhat hairy, with rather small 

 flowers, in late spring. 



A. Tabemsemont&ua. Leaves varying from ovate or lance-ovate to 

 lanceolate, acute at each end, pale beneath. 



A. cilid.ta. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, the margins and mostly the 

 stems beset with some scattered bristles. 



